The first time I came across Worton, I didn’t get it. A cold winter’s morning trudging round a few barren vegetable beds and empty greenhouses wasn’t really doing it for me. I don’t know what made me go back, but it was summer the next time I went to Worton. And by then it was […]
Tag Archives: Oxfordshire
October
17
Shaun Dickens at the Boathouse. Not floating my boat.
posted by Nicky Richmond
I’ve booked and cancelled Shaun Dickens at the Boathouse in Henley on more than one occasion, simultaneously attracted by his stated pedigree and put off by pictures of somewhat overwrought food. It’s quite fussy plating, the like of which will generally have me running for the hills, unless I know that they know what they are doing. But […]
May
20
The Wild Rabbit. Not wild and no rabbit.
posted by Nicky Richmond
“Can I have some of the vegetable curry”, said the man next to me at the Farmers’ Market. The voice sounded familiar. “Oh and some of the rice too, please”. I looked sideways. It was David Cameron. I suppose I was asking for it, hovering round the Farmers’ Market on a Saturday morning in Chipping Norton. […]
May
04
The Magdalen Arms, Oxford. A Life of Pie.
posted by Nicky Richmond
There is practically nowhere to eat in Oxford. Nowhere good that is. Yes, of course there’s Sojo and My Sichuan, which are both fine and there’s the Turl Street Kitchen, which will do for a snack, but there is very little else. Do not say to me the words Maison Blanc, or Loch Fyne or […]
December
07
Red Lion, Britwell Salome (2) Sunday lunch.
posted by Nicky Richmond
Lots of people ask me what my favourite restaurant is. I ought to have a stock answer by now, but I don’t. Like that other question, how many lawyers are there in your firm. I don’t really know the exact number. It changes. I sort of know. I could know. I quite like the not-knowing […]
April
25
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT : The Red Lion, Britwell Salome.
posted by Nicky Richmond
No longer being run by same team so the review is of historic interest only The Red Lion. Commonest name for a pub in the UK apparently, but don’t let that put you off because the food here is anything but. And don’t confuse it with the Red Lion in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. So new they don’t […]
February
19
Hotel du Vin. Does what it says on the tin.
posted by Nicky Richmond
Because life isn’t all Michelin stars and a lot of the time you just want to go somewhere easy and eat simple food, we thought about this. We’d been to the dump and didn’t quite want to go straight home after all that exertion. So we thought we’d go to Henley instead.
February
07
It’s chilli out there – at My Sichuan
posted by Nicky Richmond
Easily influenced and having read the review by John Lanchester in the Grauniad on Saturday, I hastened my way to My Sichuan. Despite living not a half hour from the home of Morse, I rarely venture there for food. Why would I? It’s mediocrity central.
The Kingham Plough.
posted by Nicky Richmond
I was so pleased to be able to get a table at short notice. Pleased but also slightly worried that they seemed to have so many tables free on a Bank Holiday Sunday evening. I had high hopes, having read all the reviews and convinced C that it was worth the drive.
